Crockin' Girls serve up flavor, low and slow

Courtesy of Crockin' Girls

Combine two busy moms and a need to get dinner on the table without a lot of fuss, and the slow cooker becomes the dinnertime hero. Add one Facebook page, and you get the Crockin' Girls.

As time-pressed moms looking to keep in touch with friends back in 2011, Jenna Marwitz and Nicole Sparks created a Facebook page to exchange recipes. Marwitz coined the term "Crockin' Mondays" for her busiest weekday, and they had one simple ground rule: You had to try a recipe before you posted it. It was never intended as anything more than a local recipe exchange among friends, but within two weeks they heard from thousands of people.

Today the Crockin' Girls have more than 600,000 Facebook fans, a website and a weekly newsletter. Earlier this year they released their first cookbook, "The Crockin' Girls Slow Cookin' Companion" (The Five Star Institute, $32.95), featuring traditional stews and roasts, family-friendly favorites and unexpected desserts.

Marwitz and Sparks, who still attend the same church where they met, live in Early, a small town in central Texas. Find recipes, tips and newsletters at crockingirls.com. Look for their next project, a magazine featuring healthy slow cooker recipes, in March 2013.

Q. When did you get your first crockpot?

Nicole: My mom would usually have a pot roast every Sunday. It was a good way for us to get to church and come home and have a home-cooked meal ready. She actually gave me her old slow cooker when I headed to college.

When we started all this, we didn't realize we could do desserts and everything. I rarely turn on my oven anymore. Almost everything is in the slow cooker.

Q. Where are your photos and videos shot?

Jenna: In the past, the videos were shot in my kitchen. But we just built a studio in Dallas. We were struggling with having a photographer in a small town.

Nicole: When this started, it was consuming our lives. We decided we either needed to make this a business or shut the page down. It was too much. So we looked at each other, and we feel like this is our calling. We get testimonies every day from moms with sick kids and truck drivers and people with family members in the hospital. It's those things that are keeping us going.

Q. What's your process for recipe selection?

Nicole: For the cookbook, each chapter features our recipes, then submitted recipes. . . . We held a crock-a-thon where we cooked, tasted and photographed all the recipes.

Q. What are good starter recipes for the slow cooker?

Nicole: Taco Stew. The recipe is in our cookbook and on the website. Lasagna, it cooks great. We even add spinach to it to sneak in veggies for the kids. Our pork tenderloin is one of the favorites. It feeds a crowd, and it's a great one to cook all of it and freeze part of it for another meal. My kids love pizza, and it's a no-fail. They're going to eat it because they helped me assemble it.

Q. Do you have a favorite slow cooker?

Nicole: Jenna loves her Kitchen-Aid and I love my GE. I will tell anybody, any slow cooker that's programmable and auto-switches to warm is your best friend. We have about 40 slow cookers between the two of us; we do have our favorites. GE is a nonstick; I love making desserts in it.

Q. What are your tricks for cleanup?

Nicole: Well, with the ceramic slow cookers, a lot of people ask, "How do I get this gunk out without scrubbing?" One of the tips we say is to fill it up with warm water, add some baking soda, cook on high for a few hours, then rinse it clean. That's a great tip for a ceramic slow cooker. Of course, if I'm doing any desserts or anything that's sticky at all, I always spray my slow cooker with a nonstick spray.

Q. You send out shopping lists via social media each week. Is there a budget?

Nicole: No, there's no budget. We usually tie them all to Crockin' Mondays. You get the shopping list on Friday. We don't send out our recipes with video till Monday at 12 a.m.

Q. Do you work with sponsors to promote recipes?

Nicole: Ingredients are not sponsored. We've done some sponsored video, but not any specific. Bella (an appliance maker) did sponsor some of our magazine.

Q. Any recipe fails? Things you don't recommend in the slow cooker?

Nicole: We still haven't completely mastered rice. Sometimes I put it in soups; turns out beautiful. Other times I add it and it will not cook, or the consistency isn't right.

Noodles. Our lasagna, the noodles are thick enough that they don't get mushy when you cook; we put those in uncooked. But spaghetti, egg noodles, you put those in uncooked and they get this mushy texture. So we tell people to cook those, then add them the last 30 minutes and serve warm.

Q. Your next magazine is focused on healthy meals. How do you define healthy cooking?

Jenna: We both struggle with that question, but healthy for me is sitting around the table with my family to a home-cooked meal. Not the drive-through. To some people it means low calorie, low fat or vegetarian. So we're going to have a variety.

Q. Tips for crockin' for a crowd?

Nicole: Number one, never try a new recipe that you've never tried before. If it doesn't turn out, what are you going to do? Our recipes are tried and true, but people still have flops. Their slow cooker cooks too hot or too slow. Try out that recipe first before you serve it to a big crowd.

Q. Misconceptions about the slow cooker?

Nicole: A lot of people think cooking with the slow cooker you have to have a lot of liquids. A perfect example: I do a whole chicken every other week. I put no liquid in it. I season it really well and cook it all day. Low and slow is our motto. When you crock it, it literally falls right off the bone.

Q. Do you have to defrost chicken breasts before slow cooking, or do you put them in frozen?

Nicole: People ask that all the time: Hey, I forgot to defrost whatever. Yeah, throw it in. It's going to add a couple hours to your cook time, which a lot of people really need.

Q. You also do desserts?

Nicole: When you think slow cooker, you think all day. Our desserts, the longest they cook is maybe four hours.

Why would you cook a dessert in your slow cooker? Perfect example: The other day, I put on the cheesecake, the first time I was trying it out. Came to town to run an errand. I didn't get home till way past when the cheesecake was done, but I have a programmable slow cooker, so it was fine.

Number one, I wouldn't have left my house with my oven on, and number two, I've burned cookies stepping outside to check on my kids or doing laundry. We've cooked everything from cheesecake to brownies. Another favorite is Kahlua cake.

Here's an easy slow cooker recipe from the new "Crockin' for the Holidays" cookbook. The authors say it tastes just like a traditional taco - minus the crumbly mess.

Taco Stew
Makes 8 servings

1 pound ground beef, browned and drained.

1 can (16 ounces) pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (15 ounces) ranch-style beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (10 ounces) Ro-tel tomatoes

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

1 can (15 to 16 ounces) corn, drained

1 packet (1.5 ounces) taco seasoning

1 packet (1 ounce) ranch dressing & seasoning mix

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on high 4 hours or on low about 6 hours.